A cheerful plug—this is not objective or disinterested, because I love this book (I own a print from it), and Peter is a good friend, and Peter paid me generously to help publicize the book when it first came out. (It was a big success, thanks in part to me, and by "me" I mean you.) But—French Kiss is the perfect Valentine's Day gift. If you already own the book, you can probably attest to that. And if you order before the end of the day on Tuesday you can get it in time for Valentine's Day on the 14th. (International orders might not arrive in time.)
This is the print I own from French Kiss. This would be a great
shot even without the cat.
There are five hundred copies left of the second (and probably last) printing. It's a really nice book, suffused with a lighthearted spirit of romance and the affection that passes between lovers and friends. The book was made to be a gift, with a stout and handsome red cloth slipcase. If one friend doesn't like it, another will. Can't lose.
The real deal
On a different subject, what do you think the chances are of this?
This isn't a setup, this was a real deal, with a well-shuffled deck, dealing in rows from left to right. I once had my arithmetical skills derided by no less an eminence than Daniel Boorstin, celebrated historian and author and the Librarian of Congress at the time, and I doubt I could calculate the chances of one ace showing in a game of Klondike, much less all four, still less the chance of all four showing in a row. By the way, the idea of having to take a statistics class is a component ingredient in my idea of hell. I've never taken a statistics class—I only know just enough about it to know that it would torture me. Anyway, after some hard thought about my lack of mathematical aptitude and my ignorance of statistics, I've concluded that, in all mathematical likelihood, it's going to be a long time before I see this again.
Good Sunday to you. Gordon Lewis's thoughts about the new Olympus Pen-F on the morrow.
Mike
[UPDATE: As Gerry pointed out in the Comments, I should have said probability, not statistics. My bad. —MJ]
"Open Mike" is the Editor's page of TOP and is often off-topic or personal in some way. It appears on Sundays.
Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
Patrick Perez: "I gave my copy to my girlfriend for Valentines Day two years ago. But now she's my wife so I still get to see the book."
Duncan: "Here's my back of the envelope calculation for the probability of getting four aces in a row. It is .000014775, or 1 chance in 67,681.25 deals of the cards. So unless you play Klondike something like 2,000 times a year (assuming you've got another 35 years left), it's unlikely you'll ever see this again. If you want the gory calculation details, let me know and I'll send them along."
John Camp: "You're a smart guy, so you probably don't lack an aptitude for math, but probably probably lack an interest in it. When I took ninth grade algebra, I got a C, and was lucky to get it—when my father pushed me on it, I told him that nothing I would ever do in my life would require me to know algebra. I was wrong about that, but something interesting happened in demonstrating my wrongness. When I was a newspaper reporter, I was packed off to a special intensive class at Northwestern to study statistics and probability and polling; I did quite well, because everything I studied had a practical application. Twenty years later, when I was involved in archaeology in the Middle East, I took a community college course in surveying, which included trig. I did quite well in trig, because again, it had a demonstrable relationship to something practical. So math without a demonstrable application was hard to me—but with an application, not really a problem. I suspect there's some math involved in lens calculations, and you're a lens guy. Does that math defeat you?"
Mike replies: In my very earliest exposure to arithmetic, I was quite put out by numbers because no one would tell me what. That is, when they said "what's two plus two?", my response was "two what?" It seemed obvious to my childish brain that "two" means "...of a kind," and you can't add two of one kind to two of another kind. For example, two sheep plus two sheep is four sheep, but two sheep plus two oranges is still two pairs of things and not four sheep or four oranges, and two sheep plus two days is not four of anything.
Elisabeth Spector: "Hmmm...my back-of-the-envelope calculation gives 1/67,659 (admittedly with some rounding error)—similar to Duncan's result. So, did you win the game with this auspicious start?"
Mike replies: I play Klondike allowing only two single-card-turn passes through the deck, so clearances are rare, but, yes, this one scored a 52.
Yonatan Katznelson: "The back of my envelope agrees with the back of Duncan's envelope. Explanation (even though you didn't ask, and which you can ignore): To deal the pictured Klondike hand the four aces have to be in positions 8, 14, 19 and 23 of your well-shuffled deck. There are three other sets of four positions in the deck for the four aces that result in seeing them displayed in a row like that—so four total 'good' ways of positioning the aces in the deck so they come out in a row. There are 270,725 (52C4) possible placements for the aces in the deck, so the probability of seeing 4 in a row like that is 4/270,725 ~ 0.000014775."
Rube Redfield: "Statistics has nothing to do with math (neither does Sudoku), but everything to do with probability. I teach statistics (along with a basic 'learn your digital camera' course) at university in Japan and I am sure you would love it. I do it in a computer lab; the computer does all the math, everything is hands on, and the graphics are both beautiful and instantaneous. All you have to do is learn how to interpret them."
mao: "Given that you have two sets of answers from your readers, and you claim to be bad at math, what are the odds that you picked the right one for the Featured Comments? My reading of the problem agrees with the low probability camp, but to achieve better agreement on answers you receive, you may need to improve you skill at writing math problems ;-) "
Mike replies: ...Which deficiency certainly stands to reason. Also my lack of concern about discrepancies in the answer.
For the record, the problem, I think, is four aces next to each other but in any order of suits and anywhere in the array (four possible positions). Reason? Well, I dunno. But I think the fact that they were all in a row increased my sense of wonder at the occurrence, whereas I don't think I would have been any less amazed if the row of four was in any different position in the array (i.e., all the way to the right or all the way to the left or with two other cards to the left of the aces instead of one). Which is a totally subjective and impressionistic reason for formulating a probability problem, but then, the only college-level math course I ever took was called "Math for Poets."
from third-party sellers on Amazon (although the price has already doubled) and Amazon UK has 
(Amphoto Books, published March 2015) (
by Glenn Randall (Rocky Nook, published April 2015) (
by Guy Tal (Rocky Nook, published September 2015) (
by Paul Martineau. Decent reproductions and a good review of White's immense influence as a teacher as well as photographer. Peter Bunnell's 
is beautifully made but small and a bit pricey; good if you are a bibliophile. And 
. George A. Grant was a Pennsylvanian who fell in love with the West after being assigned to Fort Russell in Wyoming during WWI. Although he took between 30,000 and 40,000 images over a 25+ year career and millions of people saw them, most of his pictures were credited to "National Park Service" and few people ever knew George's name.
is an excellent exposition on expanding your photographic vision. There are many such books but Petersen's lively and inviting style makes his messages easy to grasp immediately.
by the equally popular photo author Michael Freeman. This is also an engaging, but much deeper look at the visual, cultural, and psychological aspects of managing photographic space. Even if you've been using a camera for 50 years I can virtually guarantee that you'll find something very interesting and perhaps even immediately useful in Freeman's book. It's inexpensive. Just get it.
is also insightful and full of great pictures."
by Bruce Barnbaum is an excellent book covering all aspects of creative photography. Although the book was originally written for the traditional film photographer, the current edition has several chapters for the digital photographer. For the few remaining B&W darkroom printers, I recommend Tim Rudman's book on toning methods, The Photographer's Toning Book (out of print and 
—Ed.). This is a very comprehensive volume which covers all creative toning techniques."
, by A. D. Coleman. This book has been in my library since its publication; a collection of essays I have often come back to over the years."
only because it had everything you need to know in one place. Highly recommended, and sadly out-of-print. 
by Jock Carroll. I read it first in 1968. It's still funny. Too funny. Mi dos pesos. "
is one of the best I have ever seen on lighting. It is an exploration of the topic from many angles. Not a 'how to' book with formula lighting."
by Charis Wilson and Wendy Madar is another that is excellent. A look at one of America's iconic photographers from his girlfriend/wife/model/companion. A good look at Weston during some of his most productive years."
consists of the best of Bill Jay's Lenswork column, "Endnotes."
. Not only is exposure the basis for most classic photographing "systems" such as the Zone System, not only is correct and creative exposure the very fundament and foundation of good photographic technique, but knowledge of exposure is often lacking among photographers today because cameras have become so automatic and correction in post is so readily at hand. Do not be lulled! Well-controlled exposure is still necessary if you want pictures that look their best. This title (the fourth edition linked above is due next Spring; the 
is available now) is one of the great bestsellers of photographic technique, and appropriately so. Even if you think you already know this stuff well enough, it might not be a bad idea to brush up on your basics.
, the compendious 
by Dan Winter, 
, Steve McCurry's 
, and numerous others. The Moment It Clicks was the one that best clicked with readers.
. You don't necessarily need to do lighting, but it helps to know a little about it, and it helps to know some basic techniques. This perennially popular title will walk you through basic concepts and is also a great instruction manual for getting started.
and 
and the small library of books like it that you'd need in order to master the ins and outs of digital technique, I think I'll just recommend a subscription to Lynda.com. Lynda.com, if you don't know it, is a video tutorial site that covers all sorts of software—and not only photography-related. Helpfully divided into easily digestible chunks, each course covers everything you need to get up to speed. For those already in the know, there are often shorter courses that clue you in to changes when newer versions come out. View one a day and you'll soon have gotten more than your money's worth.
, and Ansel Adams: 
(with J. H. Engström), 
, and 
(Tom Waits fans will recognize the cover picture).
that is one of my treasures), but...I just didn't like Departures and Arrivals. I thought whoever made the selection was trying too hard by half to pick the frames he'd shot that were as loose and enigmatic as possible, the better (perhaps, I don't know) to establish him as art-gallery-worthy. The results is a book and a view of CH that's gassy and soft, lacking his usual sardonic edge and his "enhanced reality" darkness, and one I couldn't in good conscience commend to your attention. YMMV. [
(not the guy—I don't know the guy. The book. Didn't I just link that twice? I did). One of the best photo books I've accessioned in the last couple of years.
, Pentti Sammallahti's 2012 masterpiece.
(Kehrer Verlag, 160 pages). A modest 9.8x8.1 inches, it’s a very nicely made clothbound book with a partial dust jacket. The foreword, by the redoubtable A.D. Coleman, presents an erudite, footnoted take on George Eastman and Kodak’s rise and fall. Following are brief essays by Swiss critics Jörg Bader and Urs Stahel, and by the author, who initially spent six months around Rochester in 2007, then returned to finish her project in 2012.
) or A5+ (black, white, or 
) desktop computer audio speakers that I recommend (I have black A5+'s), do try the 
in preference to the soundcard in your computer. Amazon has a 30-day return policy, and I think once you try an outboard DAC you'll find it more than worth the very modest $169 pricetag.
) arrived last night and is now pumpin' the bass from under the desk. Hugo's hilarious country(!) cover (with banjo!!) of Jay Z's hiphop classic "99 Problems" now sounds much more powerful. I'll write more about the S8 later.
. (Of course, that's for a full system, not for desktop.) PS Audio's Paul McGowan is a fellow photo enthusiast, and used to be a reader of TOP, although I don't think he visits very often now. He's told me that running his business takes up a little more than all of his time.
by Mike Brodie, published by Twin Palms. Love the title...evocative and musical, literal and allegorical at the same time. Poetic.
. Apparently Chris Verene in his more recent work has been exploring or working out his unconventional sexuality, a strategy for picturemaking which seldom moves or interests me (sorry, Nan Goldin), but the pictures in his 2010 book Family, also from Twin Palms, of his family and friends in Galesburg, Illinois (whence a former girlfriend of mine also hailed), are unsentimental yet affectionate, and not condescending. And he has quite a gift for photo titles, too (for instance, one photo from the book is titled "My Twin Cousin's Husband's Brother's Cousin's Cousins"). Or is it Jack Woody of Twin Palms who has the flair for words? I don't know.
.
